I've taken some mixed emotions reading some of your stories, and decided to share mine as well. All I knw for certain is I've been DX'ed with DDD anter living with debilidating pain in my hip jionts knee caps and feet for the past four yraes. It got so bad, I could no longer concentrate on work, the steady buildup of strangulating pain made it imposible to think - or be aware of any thing else. I got the DDD from an MRI, and I'm assuming there are pinched nerves, but I've seen a host of other deseases listed with names that sound as if they couold have relavence. It started (a few years ago) with a heavy, almost numb feeling in my legs, like i had just biked 20 miles. I told my PCP about it and he suggested cybolta, because it helps with pain was his rational. I suffered through the winter, hot baths and tons of advil and went back to him several months later, he sent me to rumy, a nuro (both negative) and had me try nurontin, and a run of pregnazone. By this time, about a year later, I felt as though my legs had been pulled out of my hips and put back wrong, or my knees snapped backwards at the caps, or someone had beat the bottoms of my feet with a bat. the pain would shift from one spot to the next and happen nightly. Four months after the rumy told me he could find nothing wrong, I went back to my PCP and he ordered the MRI. That showed the DDD in L1-2 and L3-4. Aldo noted was an 8mm hemagenioma on L4, which I'm told had nothing to do with pain. never the less, he refered me to PM and I began cortazone injections at the spine. 1/month for three months and no relief. Meanwhile, mt knees, hips and feet are as bad as ever, and I notice that sitting, either in my truck or at work seems to triger the assult. PM gave me a script for a TENS unit, after the third injection, and lyceria along with vicodine 10/500's and lidocane patches. The Tens didn't help much, but I use it for the distraction, and I could takd 6 vics before lunch and still be in unbarable pain just from sitting. PM turned me back to my PCP and he began opiade treatment with methadone, which made me itch like hell, then switched me to the patch. I've already worked up to the 75/hr dose and after two days I'm back in pain. These are supposed to last for three days any stop a horse in its tracks. One thing I picked up fron your forums is there's an apparent difference between the generic(i tgook to for granted that because it said Fentanyl it wasn't generic) and the manufacturer's brand. would there be that much of a difference in the strength and duration of the medicne? and I've heard over and over that the DDD should not put me in as much pain as I've described, yet no one has offered anything that would. Any thoughts on whats causing this... who could test for it, and how much worse will it become? I've also read that the patch shoud be given after other meds opiad meds or combinations have been ineffective. Does anyone have a simular condition or expierence with RX patches?? I'll welcome all your coments, and happy thanksgiving...

dave